Editing 1854 (section)

== Events ==

=== January–March ===
* [[January 4]] &ndash; The [[McDonald Islands]] are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''.
* [[January 6]] &ndash; The fictional detective [[Sherlock Holmes]] is perhaps born.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/the-curious-case-of-a-birthday-for-sherlock/|title=The Curious Case of a Birthday for Sherlock|last=Lee|first=Jennifer|date=2009-01-06|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2018-06-15}}</ref>
* [[January 9]] &ndash; The [[Teutonia Maennerchor Hall|Teutonia Männerchor]] in [[Pittsburgh]] is founded to promote German culture.<ref>[http://www.pghmannerchor.com/history/]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117054136/http://www.pghmannerchor.com/history/|date=January 17, 2012}} "The Teutonia Männerchor was founded in 1854."</ref>
* [[January 20]] &ndash; The [[North Carolina General Assembly]] in the United States charters the [[Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad]], to run from [[Goldsboro, North Carolina|Goldsboro]] through [[New Bern, North Carolina|New Bern]], to the newly created [[seaport]] of [[Morehead City, North Carolina|Morehead City]], near [[Beaufort, North Carolina|Beaufort]].<ref>[http://www.historync.org/railroad-ANCRR.htm CommunicationSolutions/ISI, "Railroad — Atlantic & North Carolina"], ''North Carolina Business History'', 2006, accessed 21 May 2015.</ref>
* [[January 21]] &ndash; The iron [[clipper]] {{RMS|Tayleur}} runs aground off the east coast of Ireland, on her maiden voyage out of [[Liverpool]], bound for Australia, with the loss of at least 300 out of 650 on board.
* [[February 11]] &ndash; Major streets are lit by [[coal gas]] for the first time by the [[Pacific Gas and Electric Company|San Francisco Gas Company]]; 86 such lamps are turned on this evening in [[San Francisco, California]].{{where|date=October 2014}}
* [[February 13]] &ndash; Mexican troops force [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]] and his troops to retreat to [[Sonora]].
* [[February 14]] &ndash; [[Texas]] is linked by [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] with the rest of the United States, when a connection between [[New Orleans]] and [[Marshall, Texas]] is completed.
* [[February 17]] &ndash; The British recognize the independence of the [[Orange Free State]] in Southern Africa; its official independence is declared six days later in the [[Orange River Convention]].
* [[February 27]] &ndash; Britain sends Russia an ultimatum to withdraw from two Romanian provinces it has conquered, [[Moldavia]] and [[Wallachia]].
* [[March 1]]
** The British [[Inman Line]]'s {{SS|City of Glasgow}} sets out from [[Liverpool]] on passage to the United States with 480 on board; she is lost without a trace.
** German [[psychologist]] [[Friedrich Eduard Beneke]] disappears; 2 years later his remains are found in the canal near [[Charlottenburg]].
** The [[Plan de Ayutla]] calls for liberal reforms and the ouster of President [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]] of Mexico.<ref>{{cite web|title=Revolución de Ayutla (Plan de Ayutla)|date=October 14, 2014|url=https://www.historiademexicobreve.com/2014/10/revolucion-de-ayutla-plan-de-ayutla.html|language=es|access-date=June 8, 2019|trans-title=The Revolution of Ayutla (Plan of Autla)}}</ref>
* [[March 3]] &ndash; Australia's first [[telegraph]] line, linking [[Melbourne]] and [[Williamstown, Victoria]], opens.
* [[March 11]] &ndash; A [[Royal Navy]] fleet sails from Britain, under [[Vice Admiral]] Sir [[Charles Napier (Royal Navy officer)|Charles Napier]].
* [[March 20]] &ndash; In the United States:
** The [[Boston Public Library]] opens to the public.
** The [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] is formed by anti-slavery opponents of the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]] in [[Ripon, Wisconsin]].
* [[March 24]] &ndash; Slavery is abolished in [[Venezuela]].  
* [[March 27]] &ndash; [[Crimean War]]: The United Kingdom declares war on Russia.
* [[March 28]] &ndash; Crimean War: France declares war on Russia.
* [[March 31]] &ndash; United States Navy [[Commodore (United States)|Commodore]] [[Matthew C. Perry]] signs the [[Convention of Kanagawa]] with the Japanese government (the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]), opening the ports of [[Shimoda, Shizuoka|Shimoda]] and [[Hakodate, Hokkaido|Hakodate]] to American trade.
* [[March]] &ndash; The [[British East India Company]] annexes [[Jhansi State]] in India under the [[doctrine of lapse]].
[[File:Florence Nightingale (H Hering NPG x82368).jpg|thumb|150px|November: [[Florence Nightingale]] arrives with 38-nurse team to provide care for Crimean War wounded.]]

=== April–June ===
* [[April 1]] &ndash; ''[[Hard Times (novel)|Hard Times]]'' begins serialisation in [[Charles Dickens]]' magazine, ''[[Household Words]]''.
* [[April 16]] &ndash; The United States packet ship ''[[Powhattan (1837)|Powhattan]]'' is wrecked off the New Jersey shore, with more than 200 victims.
* [[May 5]]–[[May 15|15]] &ndash; Hokkien–Teochew Riots in [[Singapore in the Straits Settlements|Singapore]].
* [[May 18]] &ndash; The [[Catholic University of Ireland]] (forerunner of [[University College Dublin]]) is founded.
* [[May 27]] &ndash; [[Taiping Rebellion]]: United States [[Minister (diplomacy)|diplomatic minister]] [[Robert Milligan McLane|Robert McLane]] arrives at the Heavenly Capital aboard the {{USS|Susquehanna|1850|6}}.
* [[May 30]] &ndash; The [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]] becomes law (replacing the [[Missouri Compromise]] of 1820), creating the [[Kansas Territory]] and the [[Nebraska Territory]], west of the [[State of Missouri]] and the [[State of Iowa]]. The Kansas–Nebraska Act also establishes that these two new Territories will decide either to allow or disallow [[slavery]], depending on balloting by their residents (these areas would have been strictly "free territory" under the Missouri Compromise, which allowed slavery in the State of Missouri but disallowed it in any other new state north of latitude 36° 30', which forms most of the southern boundary of Missouri. This prohibition of slavery extended all the way from the western boundary of Missouri to the Pacific Ocean).
* [[June 10]] &ndash; The first class of the [[United States Naval Academy]] graduates at [[Annapolis, Maryland]].
* [[June 21]] &ndash; [[Battle of Bomarsund]] in [[Åland]] off the coast of Finland: British [[Royal Navy]] seaman's mate [[Charles Davis Lucas]] throws a live Russian [[artillery shell]] overboard by hand before it explodes, for which he is awarded the first [[Victoria Cross]] in [[1857]].
* [[June]] &ndash; The [[Grand Excursion]] takes prominent Eastern United States inhabitants from [[Chicago]] to [[Rock Island, Illinois]], by railroad, then up the [[Mississippi River]] to [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]], by [[steamboat]].

=== July–September ===
* [[July 4]] &ndash; [[James Ambrose Cutting]] takes out the first of his three United States [[patent]]s for improvements to the [[wet plate]] [[collodion process]] ([[Ambrotype]] photography).
* [[July 6]] &ndash; In [[Jackson, Michigan]], the first convention of the [[Republican Party (United States)|U.S. Republican Party]] is held.
* [[July 7]] &ndash; The [[Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company]] is established as the first [[cotton mill]] in India by Cowasjee Nanabhoy Davar and associates.
* [[July 13]] &ndash; [[Sa'id of Egypt|Mohamed Sa'id Pasha]] succeeds his nephew [[Abbas I of Egypt|Abbas]] as the [[Wali_(administrative_title)|Wāli]] of [[Egypt]] and [[Sudan]], then a province of the [[Ottoman Empire]].
* [[July 17]] &ndash; The ''[[Bienio progresista]]'' revolutionary coup occurs in Spain.
* [[July 19]] &ndash; [[Wood's despatch]] is sent by [[Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax]] to [[Lord Dalhousie]], Governor General of India, proposing radical improvements to the Indian educational system.<ref>{{cite web|title=Introduction to Wood Despatch of 1854|url=http://www.kkhsou.in/main/education/wood_despatch.html|publisher=Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University|year=2011|access-date=2014-10-09}}</ref>
* [[August 9]] &ndash; [[John, King of Saxony|Johann]] succeeds to the [[Kingdom of Saxony|throne of Saxony]], on the death of his brother.
* [[August 16]] &ndash; [[Battle of Bomarsund]]: Russian troops on the island of Bomarsund, in [[Åland]], surrender to French–British troops.
* [[August 19]] &ndash; [[John Lawrence Grattan]] leads 29 United States troops and a civilian interpreter in attack on Lakota village over dispute involving emigrant cow. Grattan's command was annihilated. 
* [[August 27]] &ndash; English lawyer [[Alfred Wills]] and party set out for the first ascent of the [[Wetterhorn]] in Switzerland, regarded as the start of the "[[golden age of alpinism]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=Wetterhorn during the golden and the post golden age|url=http://www.summitpost.org/wetterhorn-during-the-golden-and-the-post-golden-age/593265|publisher=summitpost.org|year=2010|access-date=2011-01-26}}</ref>
* [[August 31]]&ndash;[[September 8]] &ndash; An epidemic of [[cholera]] in London kills over 10,000. [[John Snow (physician)|Dr John Snow]] traces the source of one outbreak (that killed 500) to a single [[pump|water pump]], validating his theory that [[cholera]] is water-borne, and forming the starting point for [[epidemiology]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Steven|last=Johnson|author-link=Steven Johnson (author)|title=[[The Ghost Map: a street, an epidemic and the two men who battled to save Victorian London]]|location=London|publisher=Allen Lane|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7139-9974-7}}</ref>[[File:Snow-cholera-map.jpg|thumb|Original map by Dr [[John Snow (physician)|John Snow]] showing the [[Cluster (epidemiology)|clusters]] of [[cholera]] cases in the London epidemic of 1854]]
* [[September 9]] &ndash; British [[Inman Line]]'s {{SS|City of Philadelphia|1854}} is wrecked off [[Cape Race]] (Newfoundland) on her maiden voyage without loss of life.
* [[September 20]] &ndash; [[Crimean War]]: [[Battle of Alma]] &ndash; The French–British alliance wins the first major land engagement of the war.[[File:The battle of the Alma in 1854 (1856), by Horace Vernet.png|thumb|[[Battle of Alma]]]]
* [[September 27]] &ndash; [[SS Arctic disaster|SS ''Arctic'' disaster]]: The American [[paddle steamer]] {{SS|Arctic}} sinks after a collision with the much smaller French ship {{SS|Vesta}}, 50 miles (80&nbsp;km) off the coast of [[Newfoundland]], with approximately 320 deaths.

=== October–December ===
* [[October 1]] &ndash; The watch company founded in [[1850]] in [[Roxbury, Massachusetts]], by [[Aaron Lufkin Dennison]], relocates to [[Waltham, Massachusetts|Waltham]], to become the [[Waltham Watch Company]], pioneer in the [[American system of watch manufacturing]].
* [[October 6]] &ndash; The [[great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead]] in England is ignited by a spectacular explosion.
* [[October 9]]&ndash;[[October 11|11]] &ndash; United States diplomats in Europe meet and draft the [[Ostend Manifesto]], setting out a rationale for the U.S. to acquire [[Cuba]] from Spain.
* [[October 17]] &ndash; ''[[The Age]]'' newspaper is founded in [[Melbourne]], Australia.
* [[October 25]] &ndash; [[Crimean War]]: [[Battle of Balaclava]] &ndash; The allies gain an overall victory, except for the disastrous cavalry [[Charge of the Light Brigade]], from which only 200 of 700 men survive.[[File:Relief of the Light Brigade.png|thumb|October 25: [[Battle of Balaclava]]]]
* [[November 5]] &ndash; [[Crimean War]]: [[Battle of Inkerman]] &ndash; The Russians are defeated.
* [[November 14]] &ndash; [[Great Storm of 1854]] in the [[Black Sea]]: 19 British transport and other ships (plus 2 French) supporting the [[Crimean War]] are wrecked with the loss of at least 287 men.
* [[November 17]] &ndash; In [[Egypt]], the [[Suez Canal]] Company is formed.
* [[November]]
** [[Florence Nightingale]] and her team of 38 trained volunteer [[nurse]]s, having set out on [[October 21]] from England, arrive at [[Selimiye Barracks]] in [[Üsküdar|Scutari]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]], to care for [[British Army]] troops wounded in the [[Crimean War]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|last1=Baly|first1=Monica E.|author-link1=Monica Baly|first2=H. C. G.|last2=Matthew|author-link2=Colin Matthew|title=Nightingale, Florence (1820–1910)|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35241|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35241?docPos=2|access-date=2011-06-20}}  </ref>
** The [[Mute Rebellion]] breaks out in Sweden. 
* [[December 3]] &ndash; The [[Eureka Stockade]] Miners' Rebellion breaks out in [[Ballarat]], [[Victoria (Australia)]].
* [[December 8]] &ndash; [[Pope Pius IX]] in the [[apostolic constitution]] ''[[Ineffabilis Deus]]'' defines ''ex Cathedra'' the [[dogma]] of [[Immaculate Conception]], which holds that the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]] was conceived without [[original sin]].
* [[December 10]] &ndash; [[Sa'id Pasha]] officially abolishes slavery in Egypt.

=== Undated ===

* [[Bryant & Stratton College]] is founded as a business institute in the United States.
* [[Ignacy Łukasiewicz]] drills the world's first oil well in Poland, in Bóbrka near [[Krosno County]].
* Professor [[Benjamin Silliman]] of [[Yale University]] is the first person to [[Fractionation|fractionate]] [[petroleum]] into its individual components, by [[distillation]].
* The [[Iceland]]ic trade is opened to merchants other than [[Denmark|Danes]].
* A Russian fort is established at the modern-day site of [[Almaty]].
* The French fashion label [[Louis Vuitton]] is founded.
* The future Waterbury Clock Company (Incorporated on March 27, 1857) is founded as a department within the Benedict and Burnham Manufacturing Company in [[Waterbury, Connecticut]], the  predecessor of [[Timex Group USA]] in timepiece manufacturing.